Page 46 of Rogue Voice

“Okay. Okay. I’ll just lie here like a sack of potatoes.” He swallowed back a groan as Slate picked him up again. By the time Slate straightened to his full height, Rogue’s face was ashen, his eyes scrunched close. Instants later, his features smoothed out. He was unconscious again.

Bea prayed they were close. Regardless of how good a medic Slate was, it was clear Rogue needed a hospital.

Bea would walk as far as she had to in order to make that happen.

20

Rogue

“I’m ready,” Bea said, presenting her wrists.

Rogue looked up from the kitchen table, where he, Dark and Slate had been sitting.

It was only now, almost a week since they’d been rescued, that he was able to do something as simple as sit at a table with a cup of coffee.

The first days after getting to the safe house, sitting up had been an impossibility. Hell, he hadn’t even been able to get to the bathroom without assistance. He’d refused all painkillers, even though the pain was strong enough to keep him up at night, because he wasn’t about to let any more drugs into his system.

Drugs.That was his biggest fear, the one that had fueled his nightmares—that the drugs Cruz had injected would take over his mind, that, just like that, all the work he’d done in the pasttwo years would be undone. That he would go from former addict to just plain addict. If that happened, he knew he’d never find himself again. And even though he knew it was madness, to fear something with such intensity, it was a madness that paralyzed him.

The only thing that brought him back was Bea. She became a constant presence by his bedside. And fuck, he was selfish. She’d gone through hell as well. She needed rest. But every time he’d opened his eyes and seen her on the armchair next to his bed, he’d felt safe in a way he’d never felt before in his life. And, each time, the madness receded a bit further.

Eventually, he’d calmed down enough to hear what Slate and the doctor he’d brought in had been telling him all along. That he was going to be okay. That he wasn’t going to relapse.

Dark was looking at Bea’s hands now, a shuttered expression on his face. It took Rogue too long to realize his boss wasn’t looking at Bea’s hands, but at her wrists. She was offering her wrists. He replayed her words in his mind.

I’m ready.

“Ready for what?” Rogue asked.

Bea swallowed thickly. “Now that you’re feeling better, I’m ready to go wherever you need me to go. I know you’re with the DEA. I know you need to arrest me. I’m ready.”

Slate made a strangled sound with his throat, but other than that, the small kitchen fell into silence. Thick silence, broken only by the periodic dripping of the broken kitchen tap.

Drip.Fuck.Drip.Fuck.All this time, Bea had been taking care of him, thinking they would arrest her the moment he was back on his feet.She thinks we’re DEA.

She must have heard snippets of conversations here and there and worked to put the pieces together. He—he hadn’t realized what she was going through.

“We’re not DEA,” Dark said.

“You’re not?”

Bea’s body swayed lightly, and Rogue pulled himself to his feet, slowly and more awkwardly than he’d planned to. Bea put her hand up to stop him.

“Please, Rogue. Don’t make this any harder. I said I’m ready.”

Fuck this.It was time to stop with the secrets. Rogue covered the few steps between them and took her hands in his. Bea raised her eyes and their gazes met. The fear in her gaze hurt more than anything those assholes had done to him back in that cell.

This was all his fault. Bea was scared because he hadn’t been honest with her. He’d assumed it was enough that he wasn’t lying to her, but he’d left her to fill in too many gaps by herself.

“Nobody’s going to arrest you, Bea. You’re free. I’m sorry if we haven’t done a good job of explaining.”

“You said this was a safe house,” she said defensively. She looked at Slate, who had the grace to look sheepish. “You mentioned the DEA.”

Rogue took a deep breath. He pulled Bea gently towards the one remaining chair. “Itisa safe house.” A safe house on the outskirts of Cartagena. The DEA and Interpol had both offered their houses, but Thorne hadn’t wanted to accept them, and for that Rogue was glad. He didn’t know where Thorne had found this place, but nobody outside their team knew about it. Which made it safer than any other safe house they could have gone to, even though he wasn’t naïve enough to think they were truly safe here. Rogue couldn’t forget how quickly Cruz had found him last time. They wouldn’t be completely safe until they left Colombia.

“You have to bring me in,” Bea continued. “I know what my uncle does for a living. I’ve always known.”

A strangled sound left his throat.

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